Comparison of FTP client software: Difference between revisions

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The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of FTP clients, and related clients that use other file transfer protocols. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date. Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions without any add-ons, extensions or external programs.

General information

Basic general information about the clients: creator/company, license/price etc.

Free

Client	Creator	First public release date	Latest stable version	Software license	Copy files over 2 GiB^[1]
Classic FTP	NCH Software	2007	1.13	Proprietary	Yes
cURL	Daniel Stenberg	1998	7.19.0	MIT	Yes
CurlFtpFS	Robson Braga Araujo	2006	0.9.1	GPL	?
Cyberduck	David V. Kocher	2001	3.1	GPL	Yes
FileZilla	Tim Kosse, et al.	January, 2001	3.2	GPL	Yes
FireFTP	Mime Čuvalo	September, 2004	1.0.2 , Charityware	MPL	?
Fling FTP	NCH Software	2007	1.0.7	Proprietary	Yes
Fugu	University of Michigan Research Systems Unix Group	2003	1.2.0	BSD	?
gFTP	Brian Masney	1998	2.0.19	GPL	?
Kasablanca	Magnus Kulke	2002	0.4.0.2	GPL	?
KFTPGrabber	Jernej Kos	2003	0.8.1	GPL	?
lftp	Alexander V. Lukyanov	August, 1996	3.7.11	GPL	Yes
NcFTP	NcFTP Software Inc.	1991	3.1.9	Clarified Artistic License	?
net2ftp	David C. Gartner	January, 2003	0.96	GPL	?
pbFtpClient	Level5Software	2007	5.30	Proprietary	?
WinSCP	Martin Prikryl	2000	4.1.9	GPL	Yes
LeechFTP	Jan Debis	1998	1.3 (Discontinued)	Proprietary	?
Mosaic	NCSA	1993	3.0 (Discontinued)	?	?

Optional

Client	Creator	First public release date	Latest stable version	Cost (USD)	Software license	Copy files over 2 GiB^[1]
CrossFTP	CrossFTP.com	2006	1.51	Free (Standard), $25 (Pro)	Proprietary	Yes
Fetch	Fetch Softworks	1989	5.3.1	$25, Free for education	Proprietary	?
FAR Manager	Eugene Roshal / FAR Group	1996	1.70	$25, Free for ex-USSR	Proprietary	?
CoreFTP	CoreFTP.com	2003	2.1	Free (LE), $24.95 (Standard), $34.95 (Pro)	Proprietary	?
Glub Tech Secure FTP	Glub Tech, Inc.	1999	2.5.19	$30.00 commercial, Free noncommercial	Proprietary	Yes
Sysax FTP Automation	Codeorigin, LLC	2005	4.1	Free personal edition, $147 pro edition	Proprietary	Yes

Free Trials

Client	Creator	First public release date	Latest stable version	Cost (USD)	Software license	Copy files over 2 GiB^[1]
3D-FTP	SiteDesigner Technologies, Inc.	1999	8.03	free trial , $39.95	Proprietary	Yes
AbsoluteTelnet	Celestial Software	1996	7.21	free trial , $49.95	Proprietary	Yes
BulletProof FTP aka BPFTP	BulletProof Software LLC	1997	2.63	free trial , $34.95	Proprietary	?
CuteFTP	Alex Kunadze	1994	8.3.2	free trial, $39.99 (Home), $14.99 (Lite) , Pro ($59.99 (for Windows), $39.99 (for Mac))	Proprietary	Yes
SmartFTP	SmartSoft Ltd	1998	3.0.1027.9	$36.95 / $49.95	Proprietary	Yes
WebDrive	South River Technologies, Inc.	1998	9.0.2199	free trial, $59.95	Shareware	?
Total Commander	Christian Ghisler	1993	7.04a	free trial, 26 EUR	Shareware	?

Non-Free

Client	Creator	First public release date	Latest stable version	Cost (USD)	Software license	Copy files over 2 GiB^[1]
ALFTP	ESTsoft	2000	5.1	$20	Proprietary	?
BitKinex FTP	Barad-Dur, LLC.	2003	3.0.3	$34	Proprietary	?
Captain FTP	Xnet	2001	6.0	$25, $40 (Upgrade Protected)	Proprietary	?
Directory Opus	GPSoftware	1990	9.0	$61.2	Proprietary	?
ExpanDrive (Mac)	ExpanDrive, Inc	2008	1.3.4	$39.95	Proprietary	Yes
ExpanDrive (Windows) (formerly SftpDrive)	ExpanDrive, Inc	2005	1.8.1	$39.95	Proprietary	?
FTP Commander	Internetsoft Corporation	1997	9.20	$49.95	Proprietary	Yes
FTP Explorer	FTPx Corp.	October, 1996	1.0.1.53	$35.99	Proprietary	?
FTP Voyager	Rhino Software, Inc	January, 1997	15.1.0.3	$39.95	Proprietary	Yes
Global Downloader	Actysoft Inc	2005	1.4.5.1	$24,95	Proprietary	Yes
Interarchy	Stairways Software Pty Ltd	1993 (as Anarchie)	9.0	$59.00	Proprietary	?
Transmit	Panic, Inc.	1998	3.6.6	$29.95	Proprietary	?
WISE-FTP	AceBIT	1998	6.1.0	$64.66	Proprietary	?

Operating system support

The operating systems the clients can run on.

Client	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux	BSD	Unix	AmigaOS
3D-FTP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
AbsoluteTelnet	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
ALFTP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
BitKinex	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
BulletProof FTP	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Captain FTP	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Classic FTP	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
CoreFTP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
CrossFTP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
cURL (CL)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
CurlFtpFS	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
CuteFTP	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Cyberduck	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Directory Opus	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes
ExpanDrive	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
FAR Manager	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Fetch	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
FileZilla	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
FireFTP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
FlashFXP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Fling FTP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
FTP Commander	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
FTP Explorer	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
FTP Voyager	?	?	?	?	?	?
Fugu	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
gFTP	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Global Downloader	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Glub Tech Secure FTP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Interarchy	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Kasablanca	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
KFTPGrabber	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
LeechFTP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
lftp (CL)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Mosaic	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
NcFTP (CL)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
net2ftp (webbased)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
pbFtpClient	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes
SFTPPlus	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
SmartFTP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Sysax FTP Automation	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Transmit	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
WebDrive	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
WinSCP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
WISE-FTP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
WS FTP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Client	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux	BSD	Unix	AmigaOS

(CL) Command-Line interface only - no GUI

Protocol support

Information about what internet protocols the clients support. External links lead to information about support in future versions of the clients or extensions that provide such functionality.

Client	FTP	FTP over SSH (secure FTP)	SFTP	FTPS (FTP over SSL)	FXP (Site2site transfer)	DAV / HTTP(S)	Compression	Remote Compression	API / Commandline available
3D-FTP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	?
AbsoluteTelnet	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	?
ALFTP	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	?	?
BitKinex	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	?	?
BulletProof FTP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	?
Captain FTP	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	?	No	No	?	?
Classic FTP	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	?	?
CoreFTP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
CrossFTP	Yes	Yes (Pro only)	Yes (Pro only)	Yes (Pro only)	Yes (Pro only)	Yes (Pro only)	Yes	No	Yes
cURL	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes (Only)
CurlFtpFS	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	?
CuteFTP	Yes	No	Yes (Pro only)	Yes	Yes (Pro only)	Yes (HTTP(S) - Pro only)	Yes (Pro only)	No	?
Cyberduck	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes (SFTP only)	No
Directory Opus	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
ExpanDrive (Mac)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
ExpanDrive (Windows)	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	?	No	?
FAR Manager	Yes	?	Yes (with WinSCP plugin)	?	?	No	No	?	?
Fetch	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	No	?	?
FileZilla	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes (basic)
FireFTP	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
FlashFXP	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Fling FTP	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
FTP Commander	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	?
FTP Explorer	Yes	No	No	No	?	?	No	?	?
FTP Voyager	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Fugu	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	?	?
gFTP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (control connection only)	Yes	?	No	?	?
Global Downloader	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (HTTP(S))	No	No	No
Glub Tech Secure FTP	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Interarchy	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	?	?
Kasablanca	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?
KFTPGrabber	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	No	?	?
LeechFTP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	?
lftp	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Partial)	No	No	Yes
Mosaic	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	?
NcFTP	Yes	No	No	?	?	?	No	?	?
pbFtpClient	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	?
SFTPPlus	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	No	?	?
SmartFTP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Sysax FTP Automation	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes (script and command line)
Transmit	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	?	?
WebDrive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
WinSCP	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes (SFTP only)	Yes (SCP command)	Yes
WISE-FTP	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	?
WS FTP	Yes	Yes	Yes (Pro only)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Client	FTP	FTP over SSH (secure FTP)	SFTP	FTPS (FTP over SSL)	FXP (Site2site transfer)	DAV / HTTP(S)	Compression	Remote Compression	API / Commandline available

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ubuntuforums.org: 2007, 2gb data transfer limitation? Quote: "...The common 2GB limit is actually a bug in many FTP clients. If he is using Windows, try the latest FileZilla...", kernel.org: FAQ: I can't download a file with size greater than 2GB, is your website broken?, Comparison_of_file_systems#Limits

@@ Line 256: / Line 256: @@
 |-
 ! {{rh}} | [[WebDrive]]
-| South River Technologies
+| South River Technologies, Inc.
 | [[1998]]
 | 9.0.2199
-| free trial, $54.95
+| free trial, $59.95
 | [[Proprietary software|Shareware]]
 | {{?}}